1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a command center and user interface for web based businesses merchandising and/or services.
2. Description of the Related Art
The transfer of information over computer networks has become an increasingly important means by which institutions, corporations, and individuals do business. Computer networks have grown over the years from independent and isolated entities established to serve the needs of a single group into vast Internets that interconnect disparate physical networks and allow them to function as a coordinated system. Currently, the largest computer network in existence is the Internet. The Internet is a worldwide interconnection of computer networks that communicate using a common protocol. Millions of computers, from low-end personal computers to high-end super computers, are connected to the Internet.
The Internet has evolved to serve a variety of interests and forums. In particular, the Internet is rapidly transforming into a global electronic marketplace of goods and services as well as of ideas and information. This transformation of the Internet into a global marketplace was driven in large part by the introduction of an information system known as the World Wide Web (“the web”). The web is a distributed database designed to give wide access to a large universe of documents. The database records of the web are in the form of documents known as web pages. These web pages typically reside on web servers and are accessible via the Internet. Computers connected to the Internet may access the web pages via a program known as a web browser, which has a powerful, simple-to-learn graphical user interface. One powerful technique supported by the web browser is known as hyperlinking, which permits web page authors to create links to other web pages that users can then retrieve by using simple point-and-click commands on the web browser.
Web pages may be constructed in any of a variety of formatting conventions, such as Hyper Text Markup Language (“HTML”), and may include multimedia information content such as graphics, audio, and moving pictures. Any person with a computer and a connection to the Internet may access any publicly accessible web page. Thus, a presence on the World Wide Web has the capability to introduce a worldwide base of consumers to businesses, individuals, and institutions seeking to advertise their products and services to potential customers. Furthermore, the ever increasing sophistication in the design of web pages, made possible by the exponential increase in data transmission rates and computer processing speeds, makes the web an increasingly attractive medium for advertising and other business purposes, as well as for the free flow of information.
The availability of powerful new tools that facilitate the development and distribution of Internet content has led to a proliferation of information, products, and services offered on the Internet and dramatic growth in the number of consumers and businesses using the Internet. Commerce conducted over the Internet has grown and is expected to continue to grow dramatically. As a result, the Internet has emerged as an attractive new medium for businesses and businesses of information, products and services to reach these large numbers of consumers for sales of this information, products and services.
In particular, small and medium sized businesses, especially those that address highly targeted niche markets, may benefit substantially from advertising on the Internet (or other similar computer networks). The cost of advertising on the Internet can be relatively low compared to other media and businesses potentially can reach a very wide audience (or a highly targeted audience) and help drive sales. However, traditional advertising channels for advertising through the Internet are not well suited to address smaller businesses. A direct sales force cannot cost efficiently reach businesses that want to place only a limited number of ads or that only want to spend a relatively low dollar amount on advertising.
When businesses do advertise and sell on the Internet, access to data and information on sales corresponding to their advertising information and associated sales information is not available on a per domain name site basis. Rather, this data often is found only with the domain name site or is found on disparate web sites separate from the domain name site. Hence, businesses conducting business on more than one domain name site must query each site individually or must locate all web sites where such data resides in order to gather all information pertinent to their business. Moreover, the disparate nature of accessing the information creates confusion and reduces productivity when interfacing with the sites having the data.
An associated problem with disparate web sites for information is a lack of real-time data simultaneously available to the user. Because such data is not available real-time within one location, when the user completes toggling through the multitude of web sites to collect all the business information, the initial information the user retrieved has become stale. Thus, the user no longer has accurate current information on their advertising and sales data.
In addition, other business related information is also located in disparate web sites throughout the Internet. Creating a web page with links still requires a user to toggle through each web site. Further, when data is collected and displayed on a web site, for example, stock quotes or weather information, such data is merely pulled and formatted from generic databases and is not information specific to the business, such as advertising or sales results because this data is typically on disparate web sites.
Therefore, there is a need for a command center and user interface for web-based businesses conducting merchandising and service offerings over a communications network, for example, the Internet.